San Francisco 49ers: Malcolm Butler should be at top of free agency targets

Malcolm Butler appears destined to leave New England and should be a top target for the San Francisco 49ers in free agency.

A premier cornerback appears set to hit the open market in Malcolm Butler. And the San Francisco 49ers are primed to make a push for his services and potentially add a key piece at a position of need.

Butler was benched for the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl LII loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. After he denied reports he was left out of the lineup for breaking curfew to attend a concert, the future of a player who was reportedly the subject of trade talks last offseason now appears to almost certainly lie elsewhere.

One 49ers player has already made a move to recruit Butler, with receiver Pierre Garcon urging him to sign with San Francisco on Twitter. Additionally, the Niners have plenty of ammunition with which to attract Butler.

Top of that list of ammo is the $113 million in cap space the 49ers have, per Over The Cap. That number is the highest in the league and makes San Francisco an obviously enticing proposition for a player looking for a payday as Butler is.

Butler has earned just $5.44 million in his four seasons with the Patriots, according to Over The Cap, and, after making the key play in their Super Bowl XLIX win over the Seattle Seahawks and forming a crucial part of the defense that helped them to appearances in the last two Super Bowls, will feel he is worth much more than that.

Not only do the 49ers have the resource to pay Butler handsomely, but they also possess a head coach and quarterback combination in Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo that should allow San Francisco to contend next season and plenty of young pieces up front on the defensive side of the ball.

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DeForest Buckner, Solomon Thomas, Arik Armstead and Reuben Foster should all make life easier for the secondary providing they develop as expected and the defense displayed enough down the stretch to suggest Robert Saleh’s group could soon become one of the better units in the NFL.

Throw in a general manager in John Lynch who evidently has an excellent relationship with both the head coach and the locker room and the Niners have a package that should put them very high, if not top, of Butler’s list.

Though there may be some concern surrounding Butler’s omission from the Super Bowl and whatever the circumstances were surrounding it, there are plenty of reasons why San Francisco should be keen suitors.

Still only 28, Butler is in his prime and is coming off another impressive year in which he recorded two interceptions and 12 pass deflections, while also forcing three fumbles.

Butler has had at least 10 pass breakups and at least two picks in each of his the last three seasons. For a team that forced just 20 turnovers in 2017 with a differential of minus three, that is production they could use, and the young players on the defense could use his mentoring.

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With four seasons under his belt, Butler would be actually be one of the more seasoned players in the secondary and can pass on his experience of the big moments to the likes of Ahkello Witherspoon and Adrian Colbert.

The way in which Butler’s Patriots career appears to have come to an end may give the 49ers some pause, but they can ill-afford to let such a talented defender slip through their fingers and should make a concerted effort to sign him come the start of free agency.